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First Day
-
Introduction

[Voice:
author
]

[
002
]
As often, most gracious ladies, as I bethink me, how compassionate
you are by nature one and all, I do not disguise from
myself that the present work must seem to you to have but a
heavy and distressful prelude, in that it bears upon its very front
what must needs revive the sorrowful memory of the late mortal
pestilence, the course whereof was grievous not merely to eyewitnesses
but to all who in any other wise had cognisance of it.
[
003
]
But I would have you know, that you need not therefore be fearful
to read further, as if your reading were ever to be accompanied
by sighs and tears. [
004
]
This horrid beginning will be to you even
such as to wayfarers is a steep and rugged mountain, beyond which
stretches a plain most fair and delectable, which the toil of the ascent
and descent does but serve to render more agreeable to them; [
005
]
for, as
the last degree of joy brings with it sorrow, so misery has ever its
sequel of happiness. [
006
]
To this brief exordium of woe--brief, I say,
inasmuch as it can be put within the compass of a few letters--succeed
forthwith the sweets and delights which I have promised you, and
which, perhaps, had I not done so, were not to have been expected
from it. [
007
]
In truth, had it been honestly possible to guide you whither
I would bring you by a road less rough than this will be, I would
gladly have so done. But, because without this review of the past, it
would not be in my power to shew how the matters, of which you
will hereafter read, came to pass, I am almost bound of necessity to
enter upon it, if I would write of them at all.

[Voice:
author
]

[
008
]
I say, then, that the years of the beatific incarnation of the Son
of God had reached the tale of one thousand three hundred and
forty-eight, when in the illustrious city of Florence, the fairest of all
the cities of Italy, there made its appearance that deadly pestilence,
which, whether disesminated by the influence of the celestial bodies,
or sent upon us mortals by God in His just wrath by way of
retribution for our iniquities, had had its origin some years before in
the East, whence, after destroying an innumerable multitude of living
beings, it had propagated itself without respite from place to place,
and so, calamitously, had spread into the West.

[Voice:
author
]

[
009
]
In Florence, despite all that human wisdom and forethought could
devise to avert it, as the cleansing of the city from many impurities
by officials appointed for the purpose, the refusal of entrance to all
sick folk, and the adoption of many precautions for the preservation
of health; despite also humble supplications addressed to God, and
often repeated both in public procession and otherwise, by the devout;
towards the beginning of the spring of the said year the doleful
effects of the pestilence began to be horribly apparent by symptoms
that shewed as if miraculous.

[Voice:
author
]

[
010
]
Not such were they as in the East, where an issue of blood from
the nose was a manifest sign of inevitable death; but in men and
women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain
tumours in the groin or the armpits, some of which grew as large as
a common apple, others as an egg, some more, some less, which the
common folk called gavoccioli. [
011
]
From the two said parts of the
body this deadly gavocciolo soon began to propagate and spread itself
in all directions indifferently; after which the form of the malady
began to change, black spots or livid making their appearance in
many cases on the arm or the thigh or elsewhere, now few and large,
now minute and numerous. [
012
]
And as the gavocciolo had been and
still was an infallible token of approaching death, such also were
these spots on whomsoever they shewed themselves. [
013
]
Which maladies
seemed to set entirely at naught both the art of the physician and
the virtues of physic; indeed, whether it was that the disorder was
of a nature to defy such treatment, or that the physicians were at
fault--besides the qualified there was now a multitude both of men
and of women who practised without having received the slightest
tincture of medical science--and, being in ignorance of its source,
failed to apply the proper remedies; in either case, not merely were
those that recovered few, but almost all within three days from the
appearance of the said symptoms, sooner or later, died, and in most
cases without any fever or other attendant malady.

[Voice:
author
]

[
014
]
Moreover, the virulence of the pest was the greater by reason that
intercourse was apt to convey it from the sick to the whole, just as
fire devours things dry or greasy when they are brought close to it.
[
015
]
Nay, the evil went yet further, for not merely by speech or association
with the sick was the malady communicated to the healthy with
consequent peril of common death; but any that touched the clothes
of the sick or aught else that had been touched or used by them,
seemed thereby to contract the disease.

[Voice:
author
]

[
016
]
So marvellous sounds that which I have now to relate, that, had
not many, and I among them, observed it with their own eyes, I had
hardly dared to credit it, much less to set it down in writing, though
I had had it from the lips of a credible witness.

[Voice:
author
]

[
017
]
I say, then, that such was the energy of the contagion of the said
pestilence, that it was not merely propagated from man to man,
but, what is much more startling, it was frequently observed, that
things which had belonged to one sick or dead of the disease, if
touched by some other living creature, not of the human species,
were the occasion, not merely of sickening, but of an almost instantaneous
death. [
018
]
Whereof my own eyes (as I said a little before) had
cognisance, one day among others, by the following experience. The
rags of a poor man who had died of the disease being strewn about
the open street, two hogs came thither, and after, as is their wont,
no little trifling with their snouts, took the rags between their
teeth and tossed them to and fro about their chaps; whereupon,
almost immediately, they gave a few turns, and fell down dead,
as if by poison, upon the rags which in an evil hour they had
disturbed.

[Voice:
author
]

[
019
]
In which circumstances, not to speak of many others of a similar
or even graver complexion, divers apprehensions and imaginations
were engendered in the minds of such as were left alive, inclining
almost all of them to the same harsh resolution, to wit, to shun and
abhor all contact with the sick and all that belonged to them,
thinking thereby to make each his own health secure. [
020
]
Among whom
there were those who thought that to live temperately and avoid all
excess would count for much as a preservative against seizures of this
kind. Wherefore they banded together, and, dissociating themselves
from all others, formed communities in houses where there were no
sick, and lived a separate and secluded life, which they regulated with
the utmost care, avoiding every kind of luxury, but eating and
drinking very moderately of the most delicate viands and the finest
wines, holding converse with none but one another, lest tidings of
sickness or death should reach them, and diverting their minds with
music and such other delights as they could devise. [
021
]
Others, the bias
of whose minds was in the opposite direction, maintained, that to
drink freely, frequent places of public resort, and take their pleasure
with song and revel, sparing to satisfy no appetite, and to laugh and
mock at no event, was the sovereign remedy for so great an evil: and
that which they affirmed they also put in practice, so far as they were
able, resorting day and night, now to this tavern, now to that, drinking
with an entire disregard of rule or measure, and by preference making
the houses of others, as it were, their inns, if they but saw in them
aught that was particularly to their taste or liking; [
022
]
which they were
readily able to do, because the owners, seeing death imminent, had
become as reckless of their property as of their lives; so that most of
the houses were open to all comers, and no distinction was observed
between the stranger who presented himself and the rightful lord.
Thus, adhering ever to their inhuman determination to shun the sick,
as far as possible, they ordered their life. [
023
]
In this extremity of our
city's suffering and tribulation the venerable authority of laws,
human and divine, was abased and all but totally dissolved, for lack
of those who should have administered and enforced them, most of
whom, like the rest of the citizens, were either dead or sick, or so
hard bested for servants that they were unable to execute any
office; whereby every man was free to do what was right in his
own eyes.

[Voice:
author
]

[
024
]
Not a few there were who belonged to neither of the two said
parties, but kept a middle course between them, neither laying the
same restraint upon their diet as the former, nor allowing themselves
the same license in drinking and other dissipations as the latter, but
living with a degree of freedom sufficient to satisfy their appetites,
and not as recluses. They therefore walked abroad, carrying in
their hands flowers or fragrant herbs or divers sorts of spices, which
they frequently raised to their noses, deeming it an excellent thing
thus to comfort the brain with such perfumes, because the air seemed
to be everywhere laden and reeking with the stench emitted by the
dead and the dying, and the odours of drugs.

[Voice:
author
]

[
025
]
Some again, the most sound, perhaps, in judgment, as they were
also the most harsh in temper, of all, affirmed that there was no
medicine for the disease superior or equal in efficacy to flight; following
which prescription a multitude of men and women, negligent
of all but themselves, deserted their city, their houses, their estates,
their kinsfolk, their goods, and went into voluntary exile, or migrated
to the country parts, as if God in visiting men with this pestilence in
requital of their iniquities would not pursue them with His wrath
wherever they might be, but intended the destruction of such alone
as remained within the circuit of the walls of the city; or deeming,
perchance, that it was now time for all to flee from it, and that its
last hour was come.

[Voice:
author
]

[
026
]
Of the adherents of these divers opinions not all died, neither did
all escape; but rather there were, of each sort and in every place, many
that sickened, and by those who retained their health were treated after
the example which they themselves, while whole, had set, being everywhere
left to languish in almost total neglect. [
027
]
Tedious were it to
recount, how citizen avoided citizen, how among neighbours was
scarce found any that shewed fellow-feeling for another, how kinsfolk
held aloof, and never met, or but rarely; enough that this sore affliction
entered so deep into the minds of men and women, that in the
horror thereof brother was forsaken by brother, nephew by uncle,
brother by sister, and oftentimes husband by wife; nay, what is more,
and scarcely to be believed, fathers and mothers were found to abandon
their own children, untended, unvisited, to their fate, as if they had
been strangers. [
028
]
Wherefore the sick of both sexes, whose number
could not be estimated, were left without resource but in the charity
of friends (and few such there were), or the interest of servants, who
were hardly to be had at high rates and on unseemly terms, and
being, moreover, one and all, men and women of gross understanding,
and for the most part unused to such offices, concerned themselves
no further than to supply the immediate and expressed wants of the
sick, and to watch them die; in which service they themselves not
seldom perished with their gains. [
029
]
In consequence of which dearth
of servants and dereliction of the sick by neighbours, kinsfolk and
friends, it came to pass--a thing, perhaps, never before heard of--that
no woman, however dainty, fair or well-born she might be,
shrank, when stricken with the disease, from the ministrations of a
man, no matter whether he were young or no, or scrupled to expose
to him every part of her body, with no more shame than if he had
been a woman, submitting of necessity to that which her malady
required; wherefrom, perchance, there resulted in after time some
loss of modesty in such as recovered. [
030
]
Besides which many succumbed,
who with proper attendance, would, perhaps, have escaped
death; so that, what with the virulence of the plague and the lack
of due tendance of the sick, the multitude of the deaths, that daily
and nightly took place in the city, was such that those who heard
the tale--not to say witnessed the fact--were struck dumb with
amazement. [
031
]
Whereby, practices contrary to the former habits of
the citizens could hardly fail to grow up among the survivors.

[Voice:
author
]

[
032
]
It had been, as to-day it still is, the custom for the women that
were neighbours and of kin to the deceased to gather in his house
with the women that were most closely connected with him, to
wail with them in common, while on the other hand his male kinsfolk
and neighbours, with not a few of the other citizens, and a due
proportion of the clergy according to his quality, assembled without,
in front of the house, to receive the corpse; and so the dead man
was borne on the shoulders of his peers, with funeral pomp of taper
and dirge, to the church selected by him before his death. [
033
]
Which
rites, as the pestilence waxed in fury, were either in whole or in
great part disused, and gave way to others of a novel order. [
034
]
For
not only did no crowd of women surround the bed of the dying, but
many passed from this life unregarded, and few indeed were they to
whom were accorded the lamentations and bitter tears of sorrowing
relations; nay, for the most part, their place was taken by the laugh,
the jest, the festal gathering; observances which the women, domestic
piety in large measure set aside, had adopted with very great
advantage to their health. [
035
]
Few also there were whose bodies were
attended to the church by more than ten or twelve of their neighbours,
and those not the honourable and respected citizens; but a sort
of corpse-carriers drawn from the baser ranks, who called themselves
becchini and performed such
offices for hire, would shoulder the
bier, and with hurried steps carry it, not to the church of the dead
man's choice, but to that which was nearest at hand, with four or
six priests in front and a candle or two, or, perhaps, none; nor did
the priests distress themselves with too long and solemn an office,
but with the aid of the becchini hastily consigned the corpse to the
first tomb which they found untenanted. [
036
]
The condition of the
lower, and, perhaps, in great measure of the middle ranks, of the
people shewed even worse and more deplorable; for, deluded by
hope or constrained by poverty, they stayed in their quarters, in their
houses, where they sickened by thousands a day, and, being without
service or help of any kind, were, so to speak, irredeemably devoted
to the death which overtook them. [
037
]
Many died daily or nightly in
the public streets; of many others, who died at home, the departure
was hardly observed by their neighbours, until the stench of their
putrefying bodies carried the tidings; and what with their corpses
and the corpses of others who died on every hand the whole place
was a sepulchre.

[Voice:
author
]

[
038
]
It was the common practice of most of the neighbours, moved no
less by fear of contamination by the putrefying bodies than by charity
towards the deceased, [
039
]
to drag the corpses out of the houses with their
own hands, aided, perhaps, by a porter, if a porter was to be had, and
to lay them in front of the doors, where any one who made the
round might have seen, especially in the morning, more of them than
he could count; afterwards they would have biers brought up, or, in
default, planks, whereon they laid them. Nor was it once or twice
only that one and the same bier carried two or three corpses at once;
but quite a considerable number of such cases occurred, one bier
sufficing for husband and wife, two or three brothers, father and son,
and so forth. [
040
]
And times without number it happened, that, as two
priests, bearing the cross, were on their way to perform the last office
for some one, three or four biers were brought up by the porters in
rear of them, so that, whereas the priests supposed that they had
but one corpse to bury, they discovered that there were six or
eight, or sometimes more. [
041
]
Nor, for all their number, were their
obsequies honoured by either tears or lights or crowds of mourners;
rather, it was come to this, that a dead man was then of no more
account than a dead goat would be to-day. From all which it is
abundantly manifest, that that lesson of patient resignation, which
the sages were never able to learn from the slight and infrequent
mishaps which occur in the natural course of events, was now brought
home even to the minds of the simple by the magnitude of their
disasters, so that they became indifferent to them.

[Voice:
author
]

[
042
]
As consecrated ground there was not in extent sufficient to
provide tombs for the vast multitude of corpses which day and night,
and almost every hour, were brought in eager haste to the churches
for interment, least of all, if ancient custom were to be observed and
a separate resting-place assigned to each, they dug, for each graveyard,
as soon as it was full, a huge trench, in which they laid the
corpses as they arrived by hundreds at a time, piling them up as
merchandise is stowed in the hold of a ship, tier upon tier, each
covered with a little earth, until the trench would hold no more.
[
043
]
But I spare to rehearse with minute particularity each of the woes
that came upon our city, and say in brief, that, harsh as was the
tenor of her fortunes, the surrounding country knew no mitigation;
for there--not to speak of the castles, each, as it were, a little city in
itself--in sequestered village, or on the open champaign, by the wayside,
on the farm, in the homestead, the poor hapless husbandmen
and their families, forlorn of physicians' care or servants' tendance,
perished day and night alike, not as men, but rather as beasts.
[
044
]
Wherefore, they too, like the citizens, abandoned all rule of life, all
habit of industry, all counsel of prudence; nay, one and all, as if
expecting each day to be their last, not merely ceased to aid Nature
to yield her fruit in due season of their beasts and their lands and
their past labours, but left no means unused, which ingenuity could
devise, to waste their accumulated store; [
045
]
denying shelter to their
oxen, asses, sheep, goats, pigs, fowls, nay, even to their dogs, man's
most faithful companions, and driving them out into the fields to
roam at large amid the unsheaved, nay, unreaped corn. [
046
]
Many of
which, as if endowed with reason, took their fill during the day, and
returned home at night without any guidance of herdsman. [
047
]
But
enough of the country! What need we add, but (reverting to the
city) that such and so grievous was the harshness of heaven, and
perhaps in some degree of man, that, what with the fury of the
pestilence, the panic of those whom it spared, and their consequent
neglect or desertion of not a few of the stricken in their need, it is
believed without any manner of doubt, that between March and the
ensuing July upwards of a hundred thousand human beings lost their
lives within the walls of the city of Florence, which before the
deadly visitation would not have been supposed to contain so many
people! [
048
]
How many grand palaces, how many stately homes, how
many splendid residences, once full of retainers, of lords, of ladies,
were now left desolate of all, even to the meanest servant! How
many families of historic fame, of vast ancestral domains, and wealth
proverbial, found now no scion to continue the succession! How
many brave men, how many fair ladies, how many gallant youths,
whom any physician, were he Galen, Hippocrates, or Æsculapius
himself, would have pronounced in the soundest of health, broke fast
with their kinsfolk, comrades and friends in the morning, and when
evening came, supped with their forefathers in the other world!

[Voice:
author
]

[
049
]
Irksome it is to myself to rehearse in detail so sorrowful a history.
Wherefore, being minded to pass over so much thereof as I fairly
can, I say, that our city, being thus well-nigh depopulated, it so
happened, as I afterwards learned from one worthy of credit, that
on a Tuesday morning after Divine Service the venerable church of
Santa Maria Novella was almost deserted save for the presence of
seven young ladies habited sadly in keeping with the season. All
were connected either by blood or at least as friends or neighbours;
and fair and of good understanding were they all, as also of noble
birth, gentle manners, and a modest sprightliness. In age none
exceeded twenty-eight, or fell short of eighteen years. [
050
]
Their names
I would set down in due form, had I not good reason to withhold
them, being solicitous lest the matters which here ensue, as told
and heard by them, should in after time be occasion of reproach to
any of them, in view of the ample indulgence which was then, for the
reasons heretofore set forth, accorded to the lighter hours of persons of
much riper years than they, but which the manners of to-day have
somewhat restricted; nor would I furnish material to detractors,
ever ready to bestow their bite where praise is due, to cast by invidious
speech the least slur upon the honour of these noble ladies. [
051
]
Wherefore,
that what each says may be apprehended without confusion, I
intend to give them names more or less appropriate to the character
of each. The first, then, being the eldest of the seven, we will call
Pampinea, the second Fiammetta, the third Filomena, the fourth
Emilia, the fifth we will distinguish as Lauretta, the sixth as Neifile,
and the last, not without reason, shall be named Elisa.

[Voice:
author
]

[
052
]
'Twas not of set purpose but by mere chance that these ladies met
in the same part of the church; but at length grouping themselves
into a sort of circle, after heaving a few sighs, they gave up saying
paternosters, and began to converse (among other topics) on the
times.

[Voice:
author
]

[
053
]
So they continued for a while, and then Pampinea, the rest listening
in silent attention, thus began:
“
Dear ladies mine, often have I
heard it said, and you doubtless as well as I, that wrong is done to
none by whoso but honestly uses his reason. And to fortify, preserve,
and defend his life to the utmost of his power is the dictate of natural
reason in every one that is born. Which right is accorded in such
measure that in defence thereof men have been held blameless in
taking life. [
054
]
And if this be allowed by the laws, albeit on their
stringency depends the well-being of every mortal, how much more
exempt from censure should we, and all other honest folk, be in
taking such means as we may for the preservation of our life? [
055
]
As
often as I bethink me how we have been occupied this morning, and
not this morning only, and what has been the tenor of our conversation,
I perceive--and you will readily do the like--that each of
us is apprehensive on her own account; nor thereat do I marvel, but
at this I do marvel greatly, that, though none of us lacks a woman's
wit, yet none of us has recourse to any means to avert that which
we all justly fear. [
056
]
Here we tarry, as if, methinks, for no other
purpose than to bear witness to the number of the corpses that are
brought hither for interment, or to hearken if the brothers there
within, whose number is now almost reduced to nought, chant their
offices at the canonical hours, or, by our weeds of woe, to obtrude on
the attention of every one that enters, the nature and degree of our
sufferings. [
057
]
And if we quit the church, we see dead or sick folk carried
about,
or we see those, who for their crimes were of late condemned to
exile by the outraged majesty of the public laws, but who now, in
contempt of those laws, well knowing that their ministers are a prey
to death or disease, have returned, and traverse the city in packs,
making it hideous with their riotous antics; or else we see the refuse
of the people, fostered on our blood, becchini, as they call themselves,
who for our torment go prancing about here and there and everywhere,
making mock of our miseries in scurrilous songs. [
058
]
Nor hear
we aught but: Such and such are dead; or, Such and such are
dying; and should hear dolorous wailing on every hand, were there
but any to wail. [
059
]
Or go we home, what see we there? I know not
if you are in like case with me; but there, where once were servants
in plenty, I find none left but my maid, and shudder with terror, and
feel the very hairs of my head to stand on end; and turn or tarry
where I may, I encounter the ghosts of the departed, not with their
wonted mien, but with something horrible in their aspect that appals
me. [
060
]
For which reasons church and street and home are alike distressful
to me, and the more so that none, methinks, having means and place
of retirement as we have, abides here save only we; [
061
]
or if any such
there be, they are of those, as my senses too often have borne witness,
who make no distinction between things honourable and their
opposites, so they but answer the cravings of appetite, and, alone or
in company, do daily and nightly what things soever give promise of
most gratification. [
062
]
Nor are these secular persons alone; but such as
live recluse in monasteries break their rule, and give themselves up
to carnal pleasures, persuading themselves that they are permissible
to them, and only forbidden to others, and, thereby thinking to
escape, are become unchaste and dissolute. [
063
]
If such be our circumstances--and
such most manifestly they are--what do we here?
what wait we for? what dream we of? why are we less prompt to
provide for our own safety than the rest of the citizens? Is life less
dear to us than to all other women? or think we that the bond
which unites soul and body is stronger in us than in others, so that
there is no blow that may light upon it, of which we need be
apprehensive? [
064
]
If so, we err, we are deceived. What insensate folly
were it in us so to believe! We have but to call to mind the
number and condition of those, young as we, and of both sexes, who
have succumbed to this cruel pestilence, to find therein conclusive
evidence to the contrary. [
065
]
And lest from lethargy or indolence we
fall into the vain imagination that by some lucky accident we may
in some way or another, when we would, escape--I know not if
your opinion accord with mine--I should deem it most wise in us,
our case being what it is, if, as many others have done before us, and
are still doing, we were to quit this place, and, shunning like death
the evil example of others, betake ourselves to the country, and there
live as honourable women on one of the estates, of which none of us
has any lack, with all cheer of festal gathering and other delights, so
long as in no particular we overstep the bounds of reason. [
066
]
There we
shall hear the chant of birds, have sight of verdant hills and plains, of
cornfields undulating like the sea, of trees of a thousand sorts; there
also we shall have a larger view of the heavens, which, however harsh
to usward, yet deny not their eternal beauty; things fairer far for
epe to rest on than the desolate walls of our city. [
067
]
Moreover, we
shall there breathe a fresher air, find ampler store of things meet for
such as live in these times, have fewer causes of annoy. [
068
]
For, though
the husbandmen die there, even as here the citizens, they are
dispersed in scattered homesteads, and 'tis thus less painful to witness.
[
069
]
Nor, so far as I can see, is there a soul here whom we shall desert;
rather we may truly say, that we are ourselves deserted; for, our
kinsfolk being either dead or fled in fear of death, no more regardful
of us than if we were strangers, we are left alone in our great
affliction. [
070
]
No censure, then, can fall on us if we do as I propose;
and otherwise grievous suffering, perhaps death, may ensue. [
071
]
Wherefore,
if you agree, 'tis my advice, that, attended by our maids with al???
things needful, we sojourn, now on this, now on the other estate,
and in such way of life continue, until we see--if death should not
first overtake us--the end which Heaven reserves for these events.
[
072
]
And I remind you that it will be at least as seemly in us to leave
with honour, as in others, of whom there are not a few, to stay with
dishonour.
”

[Voice:
author
]

[
073
]
The other ladies praised Pampinea's plan, and indeed were so
prompt to follow it, that they had already begun to discuss the
manner in some detail, as if they were forthwith to rise from their
seats and take the road, [
074
]
when Filomena, whose judgment was
excellent, interposed, saying:
“
Ladies, though Pampinea has spoken
to most excellent effect, yet it were not well to be so precipitate as
you seem disposed to be. Bethink you that we are all women; nor
is there any here so young, but she is of years to understand how
women are minded towards one another, when they are alone
together, and how ill they are able to rule themselves without the
guidance of some man. [
075
]
We are sensitive, perverse, suspicious,
pusillanimous and timid; wherefore I much misdoubt, that, if we
find no other guidance than our own, this company is like to break
up sooner, and with less credit to us, than it should. Against which
it were well to provide at the outset.
”
[
076
]
Said then Elisa:
“
Without
doubt man is woman's head, and, without man's governance, it is
seldom that aught that we do is brought to a commendable conclusion.
But how are we to come by the men? [
077
]
Every one of us
here knows that her kinsmen are for the most part dead, and that the
survivors are dispersed, one here, one there, we know not where, bent
each on escaping the same fate as ourselves; nor were it seemly to
seek the aid of strangers; for, as we are in quest of health, we must
find some means so to order matters that, wherever we seek diversion
or repose, trouble and scandal do not follow us.
”

[Voice:
author
]

[
078
]
While the ladies were thus conversing, there came into the church
three young men, young, I say, but not so young that the age of the
youngest was less than twenty-five years; in whom neither the
sinister course of events, nor the loss of friends or kinsfolk, nor fear
for their own safety, had availed to quench, or even temper, the
ardour of their love. [
079
]
The first was called Pamfilo, the second
Filostrato, and the third Dioneo. Very debonair and chivalrous
were they all; and in this troublous time they were seeking if haply,
to their exceeding great solace, they might have sight of their fair
friends, all three of whom chanced to be among the said seven ladies,
besides some that were of kin to the young men. [
080
]
At one and the
same moment they recognised the ladies and were recognised by
them: wherefore, with a gracious smile, Pampinea thus began:
“
Lo, fortune is propitious to our enterprise, having vouchsafed us the
good offices of these young men, who are as gallant as they are
discreet, and will gladly give us their guidance and escort, so we but
take them into our service.
”
[
081
]
Whereupon Neifile, crimson from brow
to neck with the blush of modesty, being one of those that had a
lover among the young men, said: [
082
]
“
For God's sake, Pampinea,
have a care what you say. Well assured am I that nought but good
can be said of any of them, and I deem them fit for office far more
onerous than this which you propose for them, and their good and
honourable company worthy of ladies fairer by far and more tenderly
to be cherished than such as we. [
083
]
But 'tis no secret that they love
some of us here; wherefore I misdoubt that, if we take them with
us, we may thereby give occasion for scandal and censure merited
neither by us nor by them.
”
[
084
]
“
That,
”
said Filomena,
“
is of no
consequence;
so I but live honestly, my conscience gives me no
disquietude; if others asperse me, God and the truth will take arms
in my defence. [
085
]
Now, should they be disposed to attend us, of a truth
we might say with Pampinea, that fortune favours our enterprise.
”
[
086
]
The silence which followed betokened consent on the part of the other
ladies, who then with one accord resolved to call the young men, and
acquaint them with their purpose, and pray them to be of their company.
[
087
]
So without further parley Pampinea, who had a kinsman
among the young men, rose and approached them where they stood
intently regarding them; and greeting them gaily, she opened to them
their plan, and besought them on the part of herself and her friends
to join their company on terms of honourable and fraternal comradeship.
[
088
]
At first the young men thought she did but trifle with them;
but when they saw that she was in earnest, they answered with
alacrity that they were ready, and promptly, even before they left
the church, set matters in train for their departure. [
089
]
So all things
meet being first sent forward in due order to their intended place
of sojourn, the ladies with some of their maids, and the three young
men, each attended by a man-servant, sallied forth of the city on
the morrow, being Wednesday, about daybreak, and took the road;
nor had they journeyed more than two short miles when they
arrived at their destination. [
090
]
The estate lay upon a little hill some
distance from the nearest highway, and, embowered in shrubberies
of divers hues, and other greenery, afforded the eye a pleasant
prospect. [
091
]
On the summit of the hill was a palace with galleries,
halls and chambers, disposed around a fair and spacious court, each
very fair in itself, and the goodlier to see for the gladsome pictures
with which it was adorned; the whole set amidst meads and gardens
laid out with marvellous art, wells of the coolest water, and vaults of
the finest wines, things more suited to dainty drinkers than to sober
and honourable women. On their arrival the company, to their no
small delight, found their beds already made, the rooms well swept
and garnished with flowers of every sort that the season could afford,
and the floors carpeted with rushes. [
092
]
When they were seated,
Dioneo, a gallant who had not his match for courtesy and wit, spoke
thus:
“
My ladies, 'tis not our forethought so much as your own
mother-wit that has guided us hither. [
093
]
How you mean to dispose
of your cares I know not; mine I left behind me within the citygate
when I issued thence with you a brief while ago. Wherefore,
I pray you, either address yourselves to make merry, to laugh and
sing with me (so far, I mean, as may consist with your dignity), or
give me leave to hie me back to the stricken city, there to abide
with my cares.
”
[
094
]
To whom blithely Pampinea replied, as if she too
had cast off all her cares:
“
Well sayest thou, Dioneo, excellent
well; gaily we mean to live; 'twas a refuge from sorrow that here
we sought, nor had we other cause to come hither. [
095
]
But, as no
anarchy can long endure, I who initiated the deliberations of which
this fair company is the fruit, do now, to the end that our joy may
be lasting, deem it expedient, that there be one among us in chief
authority, honoured and obeyed by us as our superior, whose
exclusive care it shall be to devise how we may pass our time
blithely. [
096
]
And that each in turn may prove the weight of the care,
as well as enjoy the pleasure, of sovereignty, and, no distinction being
made of sex, envy be felt by none by reason of exclusion from the
office; I propose, that the weight and honour be borne by each one
for a day; and let the first to bear sway be chosen by us all,
those that follow to be appointed towards the vesper hour by him
or her who shall have had the signory for that day; and let each
holder of the signory be, for the time, sole arbiter of the place and
manner in which we are to pass our time.
”

[Voice:
author
]

[
097
]
Pampinea's speech was received with the utmost applause, and
with one accord she was chosen queen for the first day. Whereupon
Filomena hied her lightly to a bay-tree, having often heard of the
great honour in which its leaves, and such as were deservedly
crowned therewith, were worthy to be holden; and having gathered
a few sprays, she made thereof a goodly wreath of honour, and set
it on Pampinea's head; which wreath was thenceforth, while
their company endured, the visible sign of the wearer's sway and
sovereignty.

[Voice:
author
]

[
098
]
No sooner was Queen Pampinea crowned than she bade all be
silent. She then caused summon to her presence their four maids,
and the servants of the three young men, and, all keeping silence,
said to them:
“
That I may shew you all at once, how,
well still giving place to better, our company may flourish and
endure, as long as it shall pleasure us, with order meet and assured
delight and without reproach, I first of all constitute Dioneo's man,
Parmeno, my seneschal, and entrust him with the care and control
of all our household, and all that belongs to the service of the hall.
[
099
]
Pamfilo's man, Sirisco, I appoint treasurer and chancellor of our
exchequer; and be he ever answerable to Parmeno. While Parmeno
and Sirisco are too busy about their duties to serve their masters,
let Filostrato's man, Tindaro, have charge of the chambers of all
three. [
100
]
My maid, Misia, and Filomena's maid, Licisca, will keep in
the kitchen, and with all due diligence prepare such dishes as
Parmeno shall bid them. [
101
]
Lauretta's maid, Chimera, and Fiammetta's
maid, Stratilia we make answerable for the ladies' chambers, and
wherever we may take up our quarters, let them see that all is
spotless. And now we enjoin you, one and all alike, as you value
our favour, that none of you, go where you may, return whence
you may, hear or see what you may, bring us any tidings but such as
be cheerful.
”
[
102
]
These orders thus succinctly given were received with
universal approval. Whereupon Pampinea rose, and said gaily:
“
Here are gardens, meads, and other places delightsome enough,
where you may wander at will, and take your pleasure; but on the
stroke of tierce, let all be here to breakfast in the shade.
”

[Voice:
author
]

[
103
]
Thus dismissed by their new queen the gay company sauntered
gently through a garden, the young men saying sweet things to the
fair ladies, who wove fair garlands of divers sorts of leaves and sang
love-songs.

[Voice:
author
]

[
104
]
Having thus spent the time allowed them by the queen, they
returned to the house, where they found that Parmeno had entered
on his office with zeal; for in a hall on the ground-floor they saw
tables covered with the whitest of cloths, and beakers that shone
like silver, and sprays of broom scattered everywhere. So, at the bidding
of the queen, they washed their hands, and all took their places
as marshalled by Parmeno. [
105
]
Dishes, daintily prepared, were served,
and the finest wines were at hand; the three serving-men did their
office noiselessly; in a word all was fair and ordered in a seemly
manner; [
106
]
whereby the spirits of the company rose, and they
seasoned their viands with pleasant jests and sprightly sallies.
Breakfast done, the tables were removed, and the queen bade fetch
instruments of music; for all, ladies and young men alike, knew
how to tread a measure, and some of them played and sang with
great skill: so, at her command, Dioneo having taken a lute, and
Fiammetta a viol, they struck up a dance in sweet concert; [
107
]
and,
the servants being dismissed to their repast, the queen, attended by
the other ladies and the two young men, led off a stately carol; which
ended they fell to singing ditties dainty and gay. [
108
]
Thus they diverted
themselves until the queen, deeming it time to retire to rest, dismissed
them all for the night. So the three young men and the
ladies withdrew to their several quarters, which were in different
parts of the palace. There they found the beds well made, and
abundance of flowers, as in the hall; and so they undressed, and
went to bed.

[Voice:
author
]

[
109
]
Shortly after none the queen rose, and roused the rest of the
ladies, as also the young men, averring that it was injurious to the
health to sleep long in the daytime. They therefore hied them to
a meadow, where the grass grew green and luxuriant, being nowhere
scorched by the sun, and a light breeze gently fanned them. So at
the queen's command they all ranged themselves in a circle on the
grass, and hearkened while she thus spoke:

[Voice:
author
]

[
110
]
“
You mark that the sun is high, the heat intense, and the silence
unbroken save by the cicalas among the olive-trees. It were therefore
the height of folly to quit this spot at present. Here the air
is cool and the prospect fair, and here, observe, are dice and chess.
Take, then, your pleasure as you may be severally minded; [
111
]
but, if
you take my advice, you will find pastime for the hot hours before
us, not in play, in which the loser must needs be vexed, and
neither the winner nor the onlooker much the better pleased, but
in telling of stories, in which the invention of one may afford
solace to all the company of his hearers. [
112
]
You will not each have
told a story before the sun will be low, and the heat abated, so that
we shall be able to go and severally take our pleasure where it may
seem best to each. Wherefore, if my proposal meet with your
approval--for in this I am disposed to consult your pleasure--let us
adopt it; if not, divert yourselves as best you may, until the vesper
hour.
”

[Voice:
author
]

[
113
]
The queen's proposal being approved by all, ladies and men alike,
she added: [
114
]
“
So please you, then, I ordain, that, for this first day,
we be free to discourse of such matters as most commend themselves
to each in turn.
”
[
115
]
She then addressed Pamfilo, who sat on her
right hand, bidding him with a gracious air to lead off with one of
his stories. And prompt at the word of command, Pamfilo, while
all listened intently, thus began: